Navient gets back delinquent student loan servicing business

Navient will add a couple of hundred jobs in New York state after being named by the U.S. Department of Education to get delinquent student loans current.

The Wilmington-based company announced its subsidiary Pioneer Credit Recovery will “help federal student loan borrowers recover from default, reversing a February 2015 decision.

Under a contract term extension awarded earlier this year, the Department of Education commenced placing accounts with Pioneer. The DOE, during theObama administration, had claimed the company and others engaged in questionable practices.

Navient released the following statement:

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This result validates our long-held position that, based on inaccurate information, Pioneer and other contractors were improperly denied a contract extension in 2015. We are pleased to help federal loan borrowers who need a second chance to recover from default.

As a leading provider of asset recovery services, Pioneer Credit Recovery has a long track record of assisting individuals who default on their student loan payments to recover from the negative consequences of default.

Since 2012, Navient and its subsidiaries have helped nearly 250,000 borrowers successfully rehabilitate their loans — that is, make nine out of 10 on-time payments — thus reestablishing the loan at a regular servicer and removing the record of default from their credit history.

As a first step, Pioneer will add200 staffers.

The company has long claimed its collection practices are proper, despite claims to the contrary from critics such as U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts.

Navient has been working to diversify beyond servicing student loans, acquiring an online student loan provider and a company that handles tickets and other revenues for parking departments.

Company stock has recovered from 52-week lows and is now trading at around $13 a share.